Allies of private school say park deal shouldn’t be scrubbed as result of bribery scandal

Sex trafficking. Needles littering the ground. Skin cancer risks from outdoor activity.

These are among the reasons cited by supporters of a wealthy Miami couple as the allies swarmed City Hall advocating for an indoor athletic facility to be built on one of the largest remaining undeveloped tracts of land in the city. They swarmed City Hall Thursday, wearing matching shirts.

What they didn’t mention is that the planned sports complex is at the center of a corruption scandal that led to the arrest of a former Miami commissioner on bribery charges.

What might have been a straightforward resolution to nullify an agreement that resulted from a vote that prosecutors allege was bought and paid for appeared to have only tenuous support on the current City Commission. A newly elected commissioner who ran on an anti-corruption platform — and who put the item on the agenda — ultimately deferred it after hearing commentary from dozens of people.

City Commissioner Miguel Gabela’s proposal was to terminate a land deal the city made in 2022 with David and Leila Centner, operators of Miami’s Centner Academy. The private school gained notoriety during the pandemic when the Centners threatened the jobs of teachers who got vaccinated. The scandal over the alleged bribes is inextricably linked to Gabela’s ascension to public office. In November he unseated incumbent Alex Díaz de la Portilla, who was arrested on corruption charges two months before the election and is awaiting trial.

In charges filed against Díaz de la Portilla, state prosecutors allege that the Centners funneled money through their lobbyist, Bill Riley, to Díaz de la Portilla to secure his vote in favor of a deal allowing the couple to purchase Biscayne Park from the city. The couple plans to build a youth sports complex on the land for their private school. The Centners were not charged but Diaz de la Portilla and Riley are facing several charges, including bribery and money laundering.

At Thursday’s meeting, the sea of people sporting green t-shirts with the slogan “Support Biscayne Park” — the name of the Miami park, near the school, where the facility is slated to be built — omitted those facts. And Gabela, who built his brand as the foil to Díaz de la Portilla, unseating him in November, began to waver.

While he had initially intended to vote to terminate the agreement with the Centners, Gabela said it was apparent that he did not have enough supporting votes from other commissioners necessary to carry the motion. Although he remains concerned about the circumstances under which the commission entered into its agreement with the Centners, Gabela said he deferred the vote until a meeting next month after hearing from dozens of parents speaking in favor of the project.

“When I saw about 100 people show up, and the mothers talk ... that got me and I said, ‘Okay, let’s give them a shot,’” Gabela explained in an interview with the Miami Herald.

Gabela said the extra time would allow further legal review of the agreement. Newly elected Commissioner Damian Pardo, who also ran on an anti-corruption platform, did not immediately respond to the Herald’s request for comment on the matter.

‘Out of the goodness of their hearts’

The Centners have made only minimal statements to the media since Díaz de la Portilla’s arrest. But on Thursday the couple showed up with an army of parents.

“Unfortunately politics have become a nasty battle and sometimes innocent people are caught in the crossfire of people’s ill-intentions,” Leila Centner told the City Commission, adding that the Centners have spent “a tremendous amount of time and money” on preparing the park, not to be confused with the municipality Biscayne Park, for construction.

“If you cancel all the hard work that has been done,” Leila Centner continued, “other philanthropists like us will never, ever trust the city again. This will be a grave loss to the city.”

The couple did not acknowledge Díaz de la Portilla’s charges during their public commentary.

At the meeting, the Centners’ dozens of supporters — most of whom said they were parents of students at the Centner Academy — largely ignored the alleged corruption surrounding the land deal and instead focused their comments on the benefits of the proposed sports complex to their children and the community.

Multiple speakers described themselves as single moms. Several parents, including Miami resident Kiana Lowrance, said it’s a matter of safety.

“Sex trafficking is at an all-time high, and I want to feel safe when I take my kids out to play,” Lowrance said to the commissioners while holding a wiggly baby. “This park is a safe haven and a security for our children’s community and future generations.”

She added that the Centners “are doing this out of the goodness of their hearts” — a common sentiment among the supporters.

Outside the chambers, parents who spoke suggested they were either unaware of pending charges against the commissioner or were dismissive of them. “I wouldn’t believe it,” said one parent who declined to identify herself after reporters described the case against Díaz de la Portilla. Others attempted to distance the Centners from the charges brought against Díaz de la Portilla.

“It’s not the Centners’ fault that a commissioner in the city of Miami is doing the wrong thing with his finance contributions,” said another mother of a student who refused to give her name after initially agreeing to an interview.

Yoanna Grand, who described herself as a single mother of a 7-year-old student, told reporters she had never heard of the bribery allegations but came to City Hall to support the program on behalf of the community. She said she learned about the organized support effort because she is “part of the school.”

She said the Centners had not asked her to come.

Derek DeGrazio, who told reporters he has two children at the Centner Academy, also said he was unaware of the bribery charges but came to voice support because of his love of sports.

“I think sports are invaluable for kids — to learn social skills and learn to work together as a team, to work together to deal with failure, to overcome adversity,” DeGrazio said. He declined to comment on whether the allegations of bribery would affect his support of the project.

Approached by a reporter at City Hall, Leila Centner declined to say whether she and her husband had provided the t-shirts or asked parents from the school to speak against the termination of their contract. When a reporter asked whether the couple was denying funneling money through Riley to secure the land deal, Leila Centner replied “Do you really think I’m going to answer any of your questions?”

The Centners asked Herald journalists to put their questions in writing. They had not responded by the time of publication.

The Centner Academy teaches students from pre-kindergarten through high school, with tuition ranging from $17,000 to more than $36,000, according to the school’s website. Speaking at the Thursday meeting, David Centner said the school gives out over $1 million in scholarships annually.